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Meet Our Team of Experts

Wright

Susan Wright

Founder and Managing Director
Susan founded Compass Partners after 15 years in Product Management at top tier consumer and technology companies.

Susan founded Compass Partners after 15 years in Product Management at top tier consumer and technology companies, so she knows how to craft research studies that are tightly linked to answering challenging business questions. Clients trust Compass Partners for their actionable insights and holistic strategies. Susan is motivated by getting inside the perceptions, needs, attitudes and behaviors that drive purchase decisions and identifying the most promising market opportunities for any business.

Susan has an Engineering degree from Queen’s University and is a RIVA certified moderator. She sits on the Board of Regents of Santa Clara University and is US Board Chair for The Equality Effect, a human rights organization. In her free time she mentors women back into the workplace after an extended absence to raise children.

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Laura Riley

Partner, Consumer
Laura brings 20 years of domestic and international market research experience to Compass Partners. Formerly, a partner at YouGov America (Harrison Group).

Laura brings 20 years of domestic and international market research experience to Compass Partners. Formerly, a partner at YouGov America (Harrison Group), Laura’s areas of research specialization include both qualitative, as a trained moderator, and quantitative, with expertise across concept tests, segmentations, and conjoint analyses. Laura has completed strategic projects across of a variety of industries with an overall focus on technology and consumer electronics.

Laura graduated from Cornell University with Honors and Distinction, where she received her B.S. in Applied Economics and Business Management with concentrations in statistics, marketing and communications. She is known by her clients for being highly responsive, and a problem solver with true attention to detail. She is an exceptional communicator and can easily adapt to changing project demands and requirements.

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Delacroix

Dr. Radu Delacroix

Managing Director – IT and B2B
Dr. Radu Delacroix has 20+ years of experience specializing in pricing & packaging strategies, product and feature optimization.

Dr. Radu Delacroix has 20+ years of experience specializing in pricing & packaging strategies, product and feature optimization, business model design, pricing and portfolio optimization. Radu was previously a Senior Principal in the Communications, Media and Technology group of Oliver Wyman (formerly Mercer Management Consulting). Radu has also been Board Director and member of the executive turnaround team at eMagin Corporation and a Principal at Ameriquest Capital, a private equity firm focused on mid-market companies. Radu holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from Stanford University and a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Aachen (RWTH Aachen). Radu is fluent in English, German and Romanian and proficient in French.

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Laurie Urh

Research Manager, Consumer
Laurie brings our clients closer to the consumer experience within Compass. She is a skilled, approachable interviewer, finds quality

Laurie brings our clients closer to the consumer experience within Compass. She is a skilled, approachable interviewer, finds quality research participants for studies and proactively finds solutions to keep us all on track. She delights our clients with her insights, analysis and attention to detail and follow-up. She has leveraged her past business development background at key retailers on the client side to execute research and provide guidance on go-to-market strategies for new products and technologies. She is at home with qualitative or quantitative studies.

Laurie graduated with honors from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York with a B.S. in Business with a minor in Retail Management. She was a buyer for both East and West Coast Macy’s divisions specializing in women’s fashions before moving into to market research field.

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Mary Richardson

Brand Strategist
Mary is an experienced Brand Strategist and Market Research Consultant with a keen interest in emerging consumer technology. She has extensive experience

Mary is an experienced Brand Strategist and Market Research Consultant with a keen interest in emerging consumer technology. She has extensive experience uncovering and leveraging strategic consumer insight to build compelling, well-differentiated and enduring brands.

Mary specializes in helping clients identify target audience, define brand architecture and positioning / value proposition, assess market opportunities, test new product concepts, detect drivers and barriers to adoption and develop key business and marketing GTM strategies (product, pricing, packaging, marketing and communications). Mary graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University.

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References

I have worked with Compass Partners for almost four years, across various projects and business units at VMware. During this time, Susan and Radu provided valuable insights and recommendations that helped inform key decisions that VMware has made on product launches, pricing and packaging, and messaging. Susan's ability to quickly learn our technologies, conduct technical discussions with our customers, pick up on nuances, be creative, and distill the conversations and data into deep insights came through in all of the projects. Compass Partners is one of the strongest research firms I have worked with, and Susan is my go-to person for our most important and strategic projects. I highly recommend. – Yoomi Hong, Director of Product Management, VMware

Susan combines deep brand strategy experience with a strong ability to design and execute insightful primary research to support her recommendations. During our work on a strategic branding project for Daptiv, I’ve been impressed with how Susan guided our team through a structured process to develop a compelling and differentiated brand framework - one that I’m confident is grounded in unique customer insights. Susan has the rare combination of excellent listening skills, a strategic mindset and analytical rigor that's required to deliver comprehensive and impactful research. Susan also has a talent for translating research into actionable input for a creative agency to make the brand a reality. Susan is one of the strongest branding and research professionals I’ve worked with and I recommend her highly. – Ian Knox, VP Expedia